Free Agents Mets Should Avoid This Offseason

With the way Yasmani Grandal is outright struggling during the NLCS, he is invariably going to damage his value on the free agent market this offseason. Exactly how much remains to be seen, and you will likely see in some uneducated corners that the Mets should not pursue Grandal this offseason. To a certain extent, it’s absurd to ignore a player’s entire career over a few games.

When looking at Grandal, this is a Mets team built on pitching, and as such, they should prioritize a catcher who thrives at pitch framing. They should also avoid players who are terrible at it. Really, overall, there are a number of players the Mets should absolutely avoid this offseason.

In case you have missed the past decade of Mets baseball, the last thing this franchise needs is another injury prone player who is over 30 years old. As bad as their injury issues were previously, they suddenly become worse when they wear a Mets uniform. When you combine that with Ramos having terrible pitch framing numbers and his probably getting a fairly large contract, the Mets should be a hard pass on him.

Gonzalez’s reputation seems to be much better than the player he actually is. This is not unusual for a player who is not too far removed from a great year or for a player who is playing for a great team. Breaking down Gonzalez’s career, he is a .264/.318/.419 hitter with just one good offensive season under his belt. He’s a versatile player whose best position is LF. He’s going to be 30 and overpaid. Mostly, he’s a complimentary piece which helps a great team like the Astros but will not be a significant contributor to a team like the Mets.

With the emergence of Jeff McNeil, the Mets are not likely in the market for a second baseman, but then again, due to McNeil’s versatility, they could opt to sign a second baseman and move McNeil elsewhere. If they do so, they need to avoid LeMahieu. While very good defensively, this is a guy who just can’t hit outside of Coors Field, and for what it’s worth, he doesn’t hit all that well at Coors Field either as evidenced by his career 96 wRC+ there.

When he was with the Mets, Cabrera was a clutch second half player. Despite all the injuries, he tried to play everyday. He was a popular player, and he was much better than anyone could have anticipated he would be when the Mets signed him. That said, he’s no longer an everyday player, and it’s questionable just how much he’d be willing to accept a utility role.

Over the last two seasons, he was just about the worst player in baseball, and he was a malcontent who was not above going to the press to try to lobby for more playing time. His team in a Mets uniform or really any MLB uniform should be over.

As we saw with Jackson with season (more on him in a minute), the Mets are likely looking for a cheap right-handed hitting veteran who can play CF. After Davis hit that incredible game tying homer in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, he has not done much since. He may come cheap, but the 37 year old will be cheap for a reason. The Mets need to do much better than this to fill out a bench.

Back in 2015, Pollock was a superstar in the making. He was a Gold Glover, and he was probably the third best center fielder in all of baseball. Since that time, Pollock has been injury prone, and he has not played more than 113 games in a season. He’s no longer a big bat in the lineup. While his defense is still good, it has been in decline, and there is a fair question over how long he can stay there (whether due to injuries or regression). He’s going to get a big contract, but it should not be by a Mets team with a horrendous history of dealing with over 30 year old injury prone players.

The Mets signed Jackson late in the season presumably to see if he should be part of the mix next season. In 57 games, Jackson was a bad hitter and an equally poor fielder. Especially with Juan Lagares coming back from injury (again), the Mets should steer well clear of Jackson.

We get it. Fans love him because he’s fat, old, has been suspended for steroids, and didn’t pay child support to his second family. When you strip down the whole contrived lovable gimmick, he’s a bad MLB pitcher who should either be retiring, fighting for a bullpen spot, or rounding out a terrible team’s rotation just like he did with the Rangers this past year.

Like with Bryan Shawlast year, there will likely be a call for the Mets to reunite some of the Indians bullpen with Mickey Callaway. While the urge is understandable, the Mets should resist as the wear and tear of his workload seemingly took a took a toll on him this season. After posting very good numbers in the first six years of his career, Allen had a career worst 4.70 ERA, 93 ERA+, and a 4.56 FIP. While he may be salvaged to be a good reliever, with how the market has gone insane with relievers the past few years, it’s not likely Allen will be paid as the rehabilitation project he just might be.

Look, Blevins has had a good career, and his best years were clearly with the Mets. His numbers were skewed this year by a bad April and an equally bad September. More troubling than that is Blevins really struggled getting left-handed batters out this season. While it’s possible that issue will iron itself out, the real issue is his walks. For three straight seasons, his walk totals have gone up while his K/BB ratio has gone down. With the emergence of Daniel Zamora and with other relievers available this offseason, it’s time to turn the page.